اصول و شیوه های شعردرمانی برای افزایش آگاهی از نژادپرستی

Pergamon The Arts in Psychotherapy, Vol. 24, No. 3, 261-274, 1997 pp. Copyright 0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0197.4556/97 $17.00 + .OO PI1 SO197-4556(97)00049-X POETRY THERAPY PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES FOR RAISING AWARENESS OF RACISM SUSAN (SHANEE) STEPAKOFF, MA, CPT” In order to be optimally effective, anti-racism trainers must tap the emotional domain, stimulate new ways of thinking and perceiving, and bypass resis- tances to awareness and action. Poetry is particularly well-suited for these tasks. In contrast to purely cog- nitive methods such as lectures and didactic texts, a poem initiates a deeply-felt experience, evokes pas- sion and sympathy, and activates the senses and imagination. Further, a poem expresses a human ex- perience in a highly concentrated manner, thereby fostering recognition of hidden or unspoken truths. Poems expand our perception, deepen our awareness, and strengthen our capacity for critical thinking. Po- ems help us to recover buried memories and to rec- ognize, name and reintegrate submerged aspects of our lives. By verbally embodying our experience, po- ems enable us to think about our lives in more con- scious, refined and sophisticated ways.